Oct. 18, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

Toledo vs. Northern Illinois University October 18, 2008 Toledo 7 NIU 38

NIU Head Coach Kill Quotes

General statement:

"Winning at Homecoming makes me happy for the players, students, and the entire Huskie nation. This day is about the students and student-athletes, so it was great to not only win, but also win in convincing fashion.

"Amazingly, even though we have three losses, the players have done a great job in maintaining a high intensity level this season."

On team motivation during practice:

"I would be lying if I said that last year's embarrassing loss to Toledo did not play a role in motivating the team this week. I put last year's score on the scoreboard for practice, but we didn't approach practice differently--we just worked hard and tried our best to improve.

"As a program, we like to keep things team-oriented and I think we did a great job winning as a team today."

On 21-0 halftime lead:

"After 21 years of coaching, you're never always nervous and never comfortable with a lead. I told the players at half that the first drive of the third quarter is often the most important drive in the game. When Toledo's offense drove down the field and scored after half, we knew we had to play the game out."

On the performance of the offense:

"No doubt our offense had trouble finishing last week as we were faced with a lot of third and shorts and we were unable to convert on most of them. We finished much better today as it was great to have Chandler Harnish (Fr. QB) healthier and playing well."

"Since the Minnesota game, Marcus Perez (Sr. WR) has been playing extremely well and assumed a leader ship role in the offense."

On the performance of the defense:

"They key to our success as a defense has been our offense. Our offense has been controlling the ball and keeping the defense on the sidelines. Also, our offense often puts our defense in favorable field position. Overall, our squads on both side of the ball have complimented each other very well."

On breaking .500:

"Like I always say, we are never concerned with records as we just try to improve over the course of the season. Nobody can argue that we haven't improved, and we have managed to improve despite being plagued with injuries. Playing well despite these unfavorable circumstances is a real testament to our work ethic as a team."

NIU Player Quotes

Chandler Harnish, Quarterback

On offenses' fast start

"It's the way we want to do it. We came out right away and wanted to make it known that we weren't here to mess around. Chad Spann ran the ball real hard and we put together good drives over and over again. We made our presence known right away. Our offense was here to play.""

On his health

"I felt great being out there. I finally had that rhythm back. Last week I was a bit rusty. I felt like I had a great week of practice and preparation. I felt so confident going into the game. It's good to know when the coaches have faith in you. Everything came together and went well."

Larry English, Defensive end

On payback from last year

"For the defense, it was a game we were all up for. Obviously, we were embarrassed last year. We had an extra challenge on our shoulder to play well and get off to a good start. It wasn't something we were really dwelling in. In all honesty, last years game had no bearing on what would happen today. It was brought up a bit and in the back of our minds. At the same time, we knew it was a new season and totally new teams. It was an important MAC game for us."

On the defenses effort

"We responded. We came out and played as a team and executed. We played smart and played together. We've done a good job of keeping points off the board. We have our breakdowns during the year, but like today, we made them attempt a field goal and they missed it."

On Toledo's win against Michigan

"We really didn't think about it that much. It's not about what the other team does, it's about what we do on the field. If we come out and execute we believe we can beat anybody, no matter what. We didn't really dwell on what they (Toledo) accomplished last week. It's all about us and our preparation."

On his sack in the third quarter

"I was real happy to come up with that play. It was great for the team. I love making plays like that, it was fun."

Marcus Perez, Wide receiver

On getting separation from cornerbacks

"I just run. It was a vertical route so I need to run by the defensive back. Coach really worked with me this week about getting the quarterback a good ball drop zone. Chandler threw a great pass."

On the quarterbacks

"We have the utmost confidence in whoever is back there. Like Chandler said earlier, we had a great week of practice. The offense did exactly what we did in practice, same as the defense. You work during the week and have fun Saturday playing."

On last year's game

"It's in the back of your mind. Last year was embarrassing. We just treat it like the next game is the most important. This week it was Toledo, next week is Bowling Green."

On the team's

"We're just trying to build this program back to where it was. It's a new era in Huskie football. We're playing great ball and part of something real special."

Chad Spann, Running back

On his playing time

"All five of us practice during the week. I didn't know how much I was gonna play and never do. The team goes with who is hot all the time. The entire team knows whoever is back there will succeed."

On his first touchdown run

"It felt great to get in the endzone and get those points on the board. They didn't wrap up well. The offensive line did a great job executing and keeping the guys off me."

On the fast start

"We always want to come out strong and make a statement. We want to give it to them right off the top and smack them in the mouth. Its good to get those early points on the board."

Toledo Head Coach Coach Tom Amstutz

On the team heading into this game

"Well yeah, as coaches that's the first thing we addressed. We had to refocus and get back onto the field, and get going again. We made a great effort to do that. However that was the kind of win that guys got patted on the back. One full week of getting patted on the back is not what you want for a football team. It doesn't get you mentally tough and ready to play. I give a lot of credit to Northern Illinois. I thought they were mentally sharp, and focused, executed well, and nothing fancy. They just executed well, good hard nosed football. I give them the credit for what happened today."

On defense's performance

"I don't think we were caught off guard. It was just a matter of execution, fitting up to the runs, sound tackling. We weren't at or best and the executed well and ran hard, having a good job of execution."

On today's crowd compared to Michigan's last week

"Yeah, we were ready for that. Part of it, I say, was one play where we had one guy jump off. It was pretty noisy. That's just focus, we got to be ready to understand and focus in on the quarterback. Obviously, we had a couple of first downs taken away because of penalties. We just have to be ready for that, have to be sharper, and execute the whole game. We hurt ourselves with some penalties we have to correct."

On penalties:

"Well that's part of the game, officials are part of the game. Sometimes you get a call your way, sometimes you don't. You got to play through those things. The team and the players and the coaches are the ones who determine the game. We just have to play through any calls that don't feel good. We just got to play through those."

On offense's struggles:

"We do have a young team but that's something we have to continue to work on. We have to continue our drives and score again. I thought Northern played real stout defense and played good in the red zone, sound defense."

On being overconfident:

"As a coach you work on execution during the week. You try to put a gameplan that your players can work on. Those kinds of things we don't talk about. We talk about having a good game plan and executing. We didn't get the job done, and that starts with coaches, and then we get together with our team this week, and refocus and do it again. Obviously, we are going to be back down to earth."

Toledo Players

John Allen, Tight End

On penalties:

"Offensively, we had some penalties that hurt our drive. We need to focus and work harder."

On preparation:

"We worked hard in practice, and we will continue to work hard, this game is over, so as captains we need to move on and get ready for next week."

On offense:

"I don't think the offense is tight, we have good game plans each week. We just need to execute better. Northern did a good job of executing on defense, and we need to do a better job of executing on offense."

Tyrrell Herbert, Free Safety

On NIU offense:

"We didn't expect anything different. We saw it all week in practice. We just didn't come out and execute like we were supposed to."

On preparation:

"We treated it like any other game, we prepared well during the week. We just didn't come out this week and execute."